Post Lumbar Puncture headache

[twighlightsparkly]

Hello! I had a lumbar puncture done 5 days ago and have basically been in bed since. I had the headache / neck pain that was only resolved by lying down and now I have dizziness and ear pressure, like my ears are blocked. Anyone else have this?! Is this normal?! How long does it last? I've been drinking loads of water & caffeine and lying flat a lot. Thanks

Happens after about 1:500 LPs/spinal injections & often requires active treatment if the conservative things like bed rest & fluids don’t help. Have you spoken to a doctor about it already/ have a follow-up plan? If not, definitely speak to 111 this evening. New ear symptoms after 5 days warrant reassessment and possibly a procedure to stop the spinal fluid leaking (depending a bit on what the LP results showed & the original problem was). HTH.

Thank you, that's helpful. I did speak to the dr that did it after 2 days but she said it should be fine after a few days and kept saying it was rare! I think I will need to contact them again. Thank you

You may need a blood patch if the spine is leaking. Call 111.

Hi OP,

Did you call again regarding your symptoms? I had a spinal block 5 days ago for c section and these symptoms started day 3, with ear symptoms starting yesterday. I have tinnitus but also feel like I'm underwater. Headache is awful at times. My midwife came out today for 5 day pp check and baby check and I told her and she completely dismissed it being anything to do with the spinal. Did you get anymore advice?

Hello this happened to me (including vomiting everywhere) after a spinal for my epidural and eventual c-section. It’s called a Dural headache. I was still in hospital and managed to (because my BIL is an anaesthetist in another hospital) get some advice. My MW in hospital wouldn’t listen to me. Eventually my daughter’s NICU consultant said I look really poorly and I explained what was going on - she rang/paged a senior Anaesthetist who then said yes it’s a dural headache. I stayed lying down and he came to see me the following day on the ward and booked me in that afternoon for a blood patch. It was a miracle!

basically they took blood I think from my arm and Injected it into my lower back to stop the leaking that had been caused by the spinal.

I had a headache for 2 weeks, after a lumbar-puncture. This was only alleviated by laying completely flat. It did finally wear off.

Push for a blood patch. It works instantly. I had the same problem after my c-section. Trying to look after a newborn with unimaginable neck and head pain was a nightmare. The blood patch was like magic!

Best bet if you’ve not already had any follow up with an anaesthetist is probably to call your labour ward and ask to speak to one - tell them you think you may have a post-dural puncture headache with tinnitus after a spinal (or find out what their follo-up process is for PDPH’s). If the anaesthetist isn’t available leave your details/ask for a plan to be re-assessed. As above, conservative management sometimes helps (rest/fluid/pain killers) but sometimes a blood patch is needed. If that doesn’t work & the MW still doesn’t get it then maybe GP might be able to have a sensible conversation with someone in hospital. HTH.

Thanks everyone for advice. I am going go call labour ward and ask if I can have a follow up with anaesthetist as suggested by @Greybeardy I'm trying to establish breastfeeding too which is difficult enough without all this.

@121gigawatts Aw sounds similar, sorry you feel like this and it must be so hard with a newborn, I'm trying to mind my two small kids too. Congratulations tho, hope all else is ok! I contacted the hospital and I'm waiting for a consultant to phone me back, will chase them up in the morning as I still feel awful so I think it sounds like I need the blood patch 🤞🏻.
Thanks for all the replys.

Hope they get it sorted for you soon @twighlightsparkly it really is horrible.